For skaters, a new look at ice
Cast members of the Sun Valley Ice Show had one of their more chilling performances to date Saturday as six of them took the Ice Bucket Challenge in support of raising awareness and cash for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The disease attacks nerve cells, ultimately causing total paralysis. The six ice skaters in the front row who got doused are, from left to right, Natalia Zaitseva, Craig Heath, Ashley Clark, Erin Reed, Jozef “Jumping Joe” Sabovcik and Jason Graetz. The movement got started earlier this summer with the likes of pro golfers Rickie Fowler and Greg Norman, with celebrity Matt Lauer issuing a challenge to Nor-man that if he didn’t dump a bucket of ice water over his head he would owe $100 to a charity. Diagnosed ALS patients Pete Frates, former captain of the Boston College baseball team, and New Yorker Pat Quinn believed they could use the challenge format to increase awareness to their disease and started issuing chal-lenges to friends. Their friends included local baseball stalwart and Wood River High School graduate Ryne Renoso, who roomed with Frates in college and played baseball with him. Since then, Bill Gates, LeBron James, Gov. Chris Christie, Taylor Swift and funny-man Jimmy Fallon are a few of the celebrities who have taken the plunge and contributed to ALS. At noon yesterday, the ALS Association reported that the Ice Bucket Challenge has pushed donations to the ALS Association to close to $23 million since July 29. Photo by Willy Cook
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